


Counting Stars

by tazo16



Category: Doctor Who, Tumblr (Fandom)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2013-09-17
Packaged: 2017-12-26 20:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tazo16/pseuds/tazo16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off of a post I saw on tumblr. which you can read here:<br/>http://tazo16.tumblr.com/post/60151092052/timelord-consulting-hunter<br/>The Doctor runs into a crying little girl</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Stars

“Eww, Danny, you’re so weird.”  
“What kind of name is Danny? That’s a boy’s name.”  
“Ugh, just go away Danny.”  
“Danny.” “Danny.” “Danny.”  
Danny shuddered and shook her head, trying to shake out the noises in her head. Even though she was safe at home, she could still hear the bullies taunting her. Why were they so mean? Couldn’t they see that she just wanted to be their friend?  
“Danny.” “Danny.” “Danny.” “Danny.” “Danny.”  
Danny let her school bag drop to to the floor before flinging herself into her bed, grabbing her pillow and wrapped it around her head. She stretched the pillow so that it was covering her ears, as if that would muffle the sound of the girls’ merciless bullying. 

She was so busy trying to drown out the taunts playing on repeat in her mind that she nearly missed the strange noise coming from outside. Nearly.  
“Shut up.” Danny groaned. But when the noise continued for a little longer, Danny sat up and marched to her window. Who-or what-was making that noise?  
Danny pushed aside her curtains and peered out her window into the near-twilight darkness. And there, hovering right outside her window, was a flying, blue, moving box.  
It looked like a moving box, at least. It was smooth, tall, and not too wide. Maybe it had once carried a fridge. But why was it blue? And what was it doing outside her window? Did she deserve to be teased so much that now impossible, inanimate objects were taunting her? Because if so, the universe had picked its ammunition pretty well- a month ago, Danny had swore she never wanted to see another  
moving box ever again. Of course she would again, eventually. She always did.  
“Leave me alone!” Danny shouted at the box. To her surprise, a voice called back.  
“What?”  
So now moving boxes could talk. Why was Danny even surprised. Might as well have a conversation then.  
“I said, leave me alone. Shoo, go away from here. I’ve had enough moving boxes for a very long time, thank you very much. Now please leave and torment somebody else.”  
“A moving box?” The voice cried, slightly accented. Oh look, it was a British moving box. Maybe in England all the moving boxes were blue. “Now why would you say that?” The voice continued.  
Before Danny could answer, the box swung itself around, revealing that it was most definitely not a moving box. This box, whatever it was, had doors. It also had a person hanging out of it.  
“Who are you?” Danny asked, curiously.  
“Who are you?” The stranger asked in the exact same tone.  
“I asked first, so you answer first.” Danny said, crossing her arms.  
“Fair enough. I’m the Doctor, and I own this box, which is definitely not a moving box. Although technically it is a moving box, if you get what I mean.”  
“No, I don’t think I get it at all. Is it a moving box or not? And why is it flying? How is it flying?”  
“One question at a time.” The mean held up one finger. “It is not a moving box. I said that already. God, I hate repeating myself.” Another finger. “This box, however, does move. That’s how I got here. I didn’t just appear here out of thin air. Well, really I did. But that’s complicated.” Three finger now. “Its flying because how else would I be able to talk to you? You’re pretty high off the ground, and if I parked myself on the ground I would have to shout up to you, and that’s no fun. And 5, it’s technically not even flying, it’s just hovering in place. And it’s hovering because I flipped a little switch that says ‘hover’ on it. Well, now it says ‘charge’ on it, and it’s a can open that you have to crank. But once upon a time it used to be a light switch that said hover on it in permanent marker. Good enough?”  
Instead of answering, Danny asked, “What was four?”  
“Four? Oh, I don’t like the number four very much. It sounds like the chinese word for death, and death isn’t very fun, now is it. So I skipped it. But enough of your questions, it’s my turn to ask one. Who are you?”  
Well one thing Danny could say for certain-this was a very strange man. But she answered the question anyways. “I’m Danny, I’m 9 years old, and I live here. Now my turn again- why are you here?”  
“You ask a lot of questions.” The man remarked.  
Danny blushed, embarrassed, and then man (The doctor? What kind of doctor?) hurried to correct himself. “No, no, that’s a good thing. A very good thing. It get you places.” The man trailed off and didn’t say anything else.  
“What kind of places am I going already? I’m 9 years old. Also, Mister, Doctor, whatever title you go by, you didn’t answer the question.”  
“Nine years old, yes that’s much too young.” Danny thought she heard the man mutter, before he said, “That is a very interesting question, why I’m here. And to tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure. My machine sort of just dropped me here.”  
“Machine?”  
“Oh yes.” The man said, grinning proudly. “This here is my machine, my companion.”  
“A machine, in that little thing? What does that say on the outside, it’s a police call box? Are you part of the CIA? Cus my mom said not to talk to people from the government without a lawyer.”  
“Oh, God, no. I’d never be in the government. Much too boring. And it says that due to many issues including budget cuts, current scenery, and some malfunctioning parts that I can’t really get into right now. And this ‘thing’ as you call it is not little at all.”  
“Uh huh. So what does this machine of yours do?”  
“Oh, all sorts of things. Here, let me show you one second.” The man disappeared inside the strange box for a minute before reappearing again, a gigantic grin lighting up his face.  
“You’re going to love this. On the count of three, I want you to step off your balcony.”  
“What??” Danny screeched.  
“I promise, you’ll be fine. You won’t fall.”  
“Promise?” Danny asked suspiciously.  
“I promise.” The man said with such sincerity that Danny almost believed him. Almost.  
“If I fall, you’re paying for the hospital costs.”  
The man laughed. “I highly doubt that will be necessary, but of course. Now, when you’re ready, step off the ledge.”  
Danny squeezed her eyes shut. This was such a bad idea. But instead of running back inside and locking the window tightly, like her mother would have wanted her to, she did something that, from the stories she’d heard, her father would have done. Danny lifted herself up onto the railing and walked off into thin air, waiting for the impending drop. Which never happened.  
The stranger laughed, and stepped out of the box to join her in the air. “You did it! Isn’t this wonderful?”  
Danny looked all around her, and then down to the street below, where she could see cars crawling along, caught up in the city traffic. No one seemed to notice them. “It’s incredible.” She whispered.  
“I know, isn’t it?” The man answered gleefully. I told you you’d love it. Now that we’ve gotten well and acquainted and you trust me and all that, I have a very important question to ask. Why are there tear stains on your cheeks?”  
“They’re nothing.” Danny said quickly. She didn’t want to complain to this man who had been so nice to her.  
“Nothing is ever nothing. Why were you crying? You’re a bright young little girl who has her entire life ahead of her. Why would you be sad?”  
“Because there are people who’d wish that I didn’t have a long life ahead of me.”  
The man looked almost shocked for a moment, before he collected himself. “Don’t ever say that. And don’t ever let anyone else ever tell you that. if they do, that means that there is something wrong with themselves that they will have to work out later in life but they should never have to unload all that anger on you. Don’t ever let yourself be hurt by other people’s character flaws. If there are kids who are teasing you, either walk away and ignore them, or punch them in the face. Although I probably shouldn’t be teaching someone as you as you about violence. No, don’t punch them in the face unless they really, really deserve it. What you should do is this.” The stranger pulled a thin piece of paper out of a pocket on his coat. “Take whatever ugliness they throw at you and turn it into something beautiful. Whenever someone bullies you, or people ignore you, or you feel left out or upset or anything like that, to this.”  
And quick as you please, the man twisted the piece of paper into a tiny paper star. “Make one of these every time you feel upset. And you’ll find that by the time you finish making the star, you’ll feel a tiny bit better.” The man handed the paper star to Danny.  
“Thank you so much.” Danny whispered, tears streaming down her face now.  
The stranger knelt down in front of Danny. “And I’ll tell you what. When you make 1,000 of them, I’ll come back. And we’ll be able to talk some more and you can ask as many questions as you want.”  
“I’d like that.” Danny said quietly. “But that’ll take a long time.”  
The man shrugged. “A thousand stars is not as many as you think. It’ll take you a few years at most. And when you make that last star, write ‘The Doctor’ on the inside before you fold it up. And I’ll know to come.”  
“You promise you’ll come?”  
The man laughed. “You still don’t trust me?”  
Danny paused, but then held out her hand, all the fingers curled down except for her pinky. “Pinky swear?”  
The man held out his hand, mirroring Danny’s and they locked pinkies. “Pinky swear.” He said solemnly. “Now you should probably get back inside. I think your mother’s home.” Danny looked down to see her mother striding down the sidewalk to their apartment building. Danny nodded sadly and retracted her hand, using it to wipe the tears off her face.  
“Thank you.” She said as she stepped back onto her balcony.  
“It was my pleasure.” The Doctor said as he walked back to his strange blue box. “And by the way, your father would have been proud that you’re named after him. Wear the name well.” And with that, the man stuck his head back in the box and he was gone.


End file.
